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that I’m bringing in are folks that have not only depth and understanding of the industry like Elizabeth Barna, who is my new COO, but we have brought in Jennifer Hall from the House Transportation Committee, where she served as deputy staff director and general counsel, and had worked prior in the Department of Homeland Security. She has the legislative and regulatory experience and is a great attorney.” Spear also recruited Bill Sullivan to


lead advocacy efforts. Sullivan comes from working with Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.)


the table with a tremendous rolodex,” Spear says of Hensley. “She will be strategizing with Hall and Sullivan about how the ATA tells its story in Washington publications, in social media and in national media. She has worked in all of those venues extensively. I’m tired of conceding message points to anti-truck groups that basically give a one- line soundbite, and it gets picked up by all these media outlets. We need someone like Sue that can make certain our side of that story is also being told equally. Our media relations is going to really up its game going forward,” Spear continues.


and help advocate if asked. We are seeing a lot more states step up and do things in the absence of the federal government taking role.


”Some of that can be good,” Spear says,


“but we have also seen instances where that can be really damaging to our industry. We are interstate commerce. We would like to maintain one standard just for the flow of commerce. . . So we need to go where the battles are and fight them at that level. If the state associations want our help, we are going to be that resource.” One state issue is at the top of ATA’s


“I want to be at the table and make sure our industry has a voice, and whatever is adopted in the future is good for our industry and not harmful.” - Chris Spear, President ATA


on appropriations, prior to working at the Department of Justice with Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) In September he promoted Rusty


Duckworth, who has been with ATA since 1999 as the new chief financial officer. “Rusty has been an excellent steward of ATA’s budget and finances in several roles with the organization,” Spear said. Te executive vice president of


communications and public affairs role will be filled by Sue Hensley. ”Sue has basically checked every box you could want for this role. She comes to


30 BEHIND THE WHEEL — Q4 Winter 2016 Spear expects the advocacy and


communications strategy of the Association to change, to be more aggressive with the new team. First, the approach to telling trucking’s story is going to go beyond the national-level, Spear says. Recent decisions by California and Rhode Island have made it necessary to take the message of trucking’s economic impact to states that may be making regulations that interfere with the industry’s ability to grow. “We will add support of state


associations . . . if they have an issue that has national implications, we will come in


priorities this year. Language in the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 stated that individual states could not institute rules governing the trucking industry because the whole industry should operate under a single federal system, rather than a patchwork of state laws. Recent lawsuits over meal and rest break state laws that contradict the federal laws are threatening to create that patchwork regulation that the FAAAA should prevent. Spear says the ATA is advocating for one standard - a federal standard to supersede state labor laws. To ensure the efficiency of interstate


commerce is protected in the trucking industry, ATA is most focused on the spending bill that funds the Department of Transportation. “In that bill, we have a permanent fix to the hours of service rulemaking, as well as the FAAAA issues,” Spear says. Te hours of service and FAAAA are the


two big victories Spear says trucking should expect this year, “probably around the time frame of December is when we’ll see that bill get wrapped up and sent to the President.”


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